When UEFA Secretary General David Taylor drew Zenit St. Petersburg in the third pot, not only the entire venue, but even Gao Shen and others in front of the TV felt short of breath.
This is a team in the third tier of teams whose European points are second only to French Ligue 1 Marseille. It is strong and was the Europa League champion last season. The team has the Russian star Arshavin who became popular this summer.
It can be said that Zenit St. Petersburg is the most powerful team in the third tier. It is not inferior to the teams in the second tier or even the first tier. Coupled with the expedition to Russia, it is a devil to draw this opponent.
Gao Shen, Zidane, Carlo and others all looked at each other, unavoidably a little anxious.
Of course they hope that this team can be drawn into the group with Inter Milan, AC Milan and Roma, but they also understand that there are some things that cannot be avoided.
So what if we avoid Zenit St. Petersburg?
In the third tier of teams, there are also French Ligue 1 Marseille who have won the Champions League, and Bordeaux, which ranked second in Ligue 1 last season. The strength of these two teams is not inferior to Lyon at all, but they are divided into
Third gear.
There are no underdogs in the Champions League. This is really not just a simple statement.
…
After David Taylor drew Zenit St. Petersburg, Roma technical director Bruno Conte, representing the Stadio Olimpico, the venue for this season's Champions League final, conducted the group draw.
After removing Lyon's group, Conte kept stirring in the remaining seven groups.
In the past few years, the draw of the Champions League has been criticized. Many people think that there is something fishy in it, so UEFA is also trying every means to prove its innocence. For example, during the draw, the live broadcast camera will be focused on it.
Conte's hand.
I saw Conte grab one of the seven balls, unscrew it, take out the note inside, take a look at it, turn it over, and there is an English letter in elegant black font written on it: H.
There was obviously a restlessness in the venue.
Gao Shen directly covered his mouth and let out a magical laugh.
Because there are already two teams in Group H, namely Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Now here comes Zenit St. Petersburg.
As the two most prominent giants in the history of the Champions League, Real Madrid and Bayern are not as good as they were back then, and Bayern has been reduced to the second-tier team. However, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, and the heritage of these two teams is still there.
Zenit St. Petersburg was the Europa League champion last season, and their strength is beyond doubt.
"Group of death!" Zidane said with a wry smile.
This group is truly terrifying.
Especially considering the schedule.
As a third-tier team, the group stage schedule is home, away, home, away.
In other words, the other three teams' expedition to Russia should be in October and November. At this time, the temperature on the European continent is not too low, but in St. Petersburg, Russia, it is already zero degrees, or even below zero.
.
This will also be a huge challenge for any team.
But playing away from home is also the most suspenseful feature of the Champions League.
…
The drawing of lots continues, and after the teams in the third pot are drawn one after another, there is still another group that is quite scary.
That's Liverpool.
The second pot is PSV, and the third pot is Marseille. This is also a strong team that has won the Champions League and is very strong.
Unfortunately, there are no Serie A teams in these two groups, which Naples is likely to encounter.
Although it is said to be one of five selections, in fact, whether it is the Liverpool group or the Real Madrid group, they are both super death groups, and they are very passive no matter how they choose.
Unless, Naples is extremely lucky.
But no matter how good you are, you still have to fight against the strong teams in the first and second tiers.
"To be honest, I have never signed a lottery, and I never buy betting, because I have never won if I bought it."
When Gao Shen said this, he showed a helpless look.
"So, don't blame me if I draw a group later that is hard for you to accept."
Carlo, Zidane and others all smiled, but also felt helpless.
This is the tragedy of a team like Napoli.
No matter how you draw it, it is actually a death group.
At best, if you are very lucky, you will draw a death team. If you are unlucky, you will draw a super death team. What can you do?
…
The drawing ceremony was paused for a moment and the award ceremony began.
The commentator also took the opportunity to introduce the current situation.
Among the eight groups, Group H is undoubtedly the darkest. When Real Madrid, Bayern and Zenit meet, it is a group of death no matter how you look at it.
"In the 2002-03 season, Bayern Munich also participated in the Champions League as a second-tier team. After the restructuring of the Champions League, they were drawn into the most terrifying group of death in history. The first-tier team was AC Milan, and the third-tier team was Lens.
The fourth pot is La Liga Deportivo."
"As a result, Ancelotti's AC Milan successfully broke through and won the championship. Super Deportivo also performed well and finished second in the group. It is worth mentioning that it was during this season that Deportivo lost 0-4 at home.
Gave it to AC Milan, and this led to the miracle of the 2003-2004 season, when we first fell behind 1-4 in the away game, and then reversed Milan 4-0 at home."
"As for Bayern, they ended up at the bottom of the group and only scored two points, starting their journey to the Bundesliga hegemony."
After winning the Champions League in 2001, Bayern has really gone from bad to worse and has never been able to regain its former European hegemony.
But in the past two years, Bayern has been very ambitious. It has introduced Ribery, Luca Toni and other stars, and its strength has gradually improved. Gao Shen knows clearly that after several years of struggling, this team is about to face a new era.
to explode.
This is actually the brilliance of Bayern's management.
For example, Inter Milan, Moratti's strategy is to burn money and introduce more stars.
But the consequence of this is that Inter Milan has never truly realized independent operations. Once they leave their major sponsors, their operations will deteriorate.
But Bayern can be said to be a classic case of European team management.
Since winning the Champions League in 2001, the Bundesliga has been in trouble and there have been gaps in Germany's youth training.
At this time, there are two paths before Bayern. Either they can invest desperately and burn money like teams such as Inter Milan, Real Madrid or Chelsea. Bayern can actually afford to do so with its financial resources.
Or you just choose not to get good grades, live in obscurity, and develop in a wretched manner.
It can be clearly seen that Bayern Munich has chosen Gou, and has been doing so for several years.
And in 2007, Bayern took an opportunity and signed Ribery for a very cost-effective transfer fee.
At the same time, after years of painstaking efforts, German youth training has begun to enter a harvest period, talents continue to emerge, and Bundesliga operations have significantly improved compared to the period at the beginning of the century.
Therefore, as the leader of German football and the Bundesliga, Bayern's senior management realized that the time had come. After signing Franck Ribery, they decisively chose to forge ahead, which led to this summer's heavy signing.
Facts have proved how smart Bayern's shrewdness is.
After several years of sluggishness, when the game broke out, Bayern not only had the support of the entire German football world, but also had the Bundesliga as its backbone, and even had strong financial resources, enough to rival any giant in Europe.
Now Ribery, and then Robben, were introduced in a very cost-effective way, but they established the pinnacle of Bayern's glory in the past ten years, and even created Bayern's continued glory from then on, ranking among the Samarlan.
The Big Three of Bayern have also relied on this kind of operation to successfully become the strongest management team in Europe and even world football.
…
Gao Shen had many thoughts in his mind, but after the award ceremony, the lottery ceremony continued.
When it comes to the fourth team, it is closely related to Naples.
It can be clearly felt that everyone's hearts, including Zidane and Carlo, are also tightened.
Although everyone knew early on that it would be the death group, they still looked forward to unexpected surprises after all.
This is human nature.
Of course Gao Shen is no exception, but he takes it more lightly.
He never likes to entrust his destiny and his future to such illusory luck or other things. He likes to take control of his own initiative.
If he was really lucky and got a good draw, he wouldn't be too happy.
If you have normal luck and get drawn into the group of death, or even unlucky enough to be drawn into group H, then Gao Shen has nothing to say.
Isn’t it Real Madrid, Bayern and Zenit?
Hit him!
Who is afraid of whom?
But sometimes fate really likes to play tricks on people.
The first one to be drawn was Atletico Madrid, and this unlucky team was drawn into the group of Liverpool.
Liverpool, PSV, Marseille and Atletico Madrid, a perfect group of death.
Shakhtar Donetsk was drawn to Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv was drawn to Arsenal...
When David Taylor finally pulled out the small ball with the name of the Naples team written on it, the audience was once again agitated.
The staff immediately took out the small balls in the glass jar that were intended for Bruno Conti, and only two were left.
The same country to avoid is either Real Madrid, Bayern, Zenit, or Manchester United, Villarreal and Celtic.
Bruno Conte seemed to realize that this was the most suspenseful draw tonight.
Because everyone knows that drawing Naples is definitely a nightmare, because the defending Serie A champion is really strong.
Although there were only two, Bruno Conte still pretended to stir it up. In fact, everyone could see that he had already chosen one of them.
After taking it out, he unscrewed it and took out the note. The face of Roma's technical director obviously changed.
Then, I saw Bruno Conti turning over the note with a wry smile, and there was an elegant black English letter on it.
H!!!!
"Fuck!" Zidane jumped up directly.
Carlo and the coaching staff were also excited.
Although Manchester United is also a very strong team, at least the Celtics are easier to deal with.
But Group H is different. Two giant teams, plus one Europa League champion, this is the most terrifying group of death in the history of the Champions League.
I don't know why, but after taking it out, Gao Shen became calmer.
The luck is still not good, but he is used to it.
More importantly, after the draw results came out, he was already thinking about how to defeat Real Madrid, Bayern and Zenit in the group stage and successfully advance to the knockout rounds.
